We were pleased to catch up with Benji Appleby recently, a relatively contemporary alumnus of Richmond School and Sixth Form College. He was kind enough to do a Q+A for us after he’d visited the Sixth Form College to meet some of our current Year 13 students to share his experience of applying for and studying engineering at Durham University.

Briefly describe your time at school – what results did you get? Were there any particular subjects or teachers or trips or highlights that you remember?

B: I was at Richmond from 2012 to 2019. I was a quiet kid, but Richmond made me feel comfortable helping to foster my passion for science and maths. I loved my time at Richmond with my physics teachers (particularly Mrs Harrison) who I saw had real passion for the subject and recognised my own passion. A standout point was the A level physics trip to CERN at Geneva. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to see such an incredible place of research. On top of that, Richmond made sure I was able to go despite financial hardship – something I was very grateful for. My time at Richmond with such great teachers made me realise how much I truly loved learning.

I ended up with exam grades I was really proud of – As and A*s at GCSE (with an 8 in maths and 7s in English), plus A*AA at A-level – maths, physics and biology.

What did you do straight after school? How did you do? Any particular stand out moments or memories?

B: Straight after Richmond School, I went to Durham University to study Mechanical Engineering. Last year I graduated with a 2:1 as a Master of Science. I thoroughly enjoyed how to learn completely independently and all the trials and tribulations that science involves. How scientific research is not done in a day but is a continuous process of perseverance. Failing, learning from each failure, adapting your model and incrementally improving your understanding. 

My main standout was my master’s research and development project. Working with laser vibrometry to perform vibrational analysis on composite sandwich panels whilst developing a computational and theoretical model to predict the experimentally obtained results.

A real highlight of the course was the amount of learning involved each day in such a wide range of topics, from nuclear power plants to jet turbines. With each academic challenge I knew there was a lesson to learn which would only improve my understanding and lead to improvement and progress.Another highlight was tutoring disadvantaged A level and GCSE students. Applying my knowledge and experience to help fellow students and to see their confidence build was great. It was nice to realise I knew what I was talking about after years of intensive studying where I felt confused and puzzled quite a lot of the time!

What did you do next? A description of your journey up until the present day.

B: I took some time off! I visited family in Spain – it felt nice to finally relax, disconnect and travel from May to September. There is more to life than academic studies!

What are you doing now? A bit of detail about your job and the roles and responsibilities it involves.

Since September 2023, I have been employed as a full time Mechanical Design Engineer at Electroimpact, a world leading company in the design and manufacturing of aerospace tooling and automation. I’m currently working on a project for the manufacturing assembly line for Airbus A320 aircraft wings. I’m finally implementing all my years of study but also realising how hard engineering is especially when trying to achieve microns level of accuracy. 

The job has an interesting philosophy – you work on what you want, so days can vary significantly. For example, some days focus on metrology – measuring distances very accurately to achieve the aforementioned micron levels of tolerance. Other days might include designing components, evaluating stresses and strains, material costs, environmental impact, standards. Still others could include the assembly of mechanical components and pneumatic connections. It has been an incredible start to my career with plenty of learning. 

Looking back, what advice would you have for our current students?

B: My main advice would be to stay curious, stay forever learning. 

As a student I was often scared to raise my hand and ask questions, but often there are many others who want to ask as well. Teachers have so much knowledge in their field that is so under appreciated. And if you ask a question that even they can’t answer you can research it and then another person has learned something new!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to connect again with Richmond School. I have much to owe to Richmond for what I have achieved to this point. Special thanks to Mrs Harrison for being such a great physics teacher and Mrs Johnson in helping build my confidence in preparation for university. 

Thank you to Benji for taking the time to give us an insight into his time after Richmond School and Sixth Form College and his fledgling career as a mechanical engineer. We wish him all the best as his career progresses and look forward to hearing from him in the future.

 

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